Ramon Powers of Topeka, Kansas, shared this digital image with the Lucas County Historical Society recently, identifying the subjects as scholars at a country school west of Chariton and dating the image to ca. 1877. One of the scholars probably is his great-grandfather, Sanford Powers, who was born in Whitebreast Township during 1861 and would have been about 16 when the tintype was taken.
Ramon isn't sure which of the older students might be Sanford, but anyone who cares to guess along can compare faces, using the following image of Sanford and his wife, Mary M. (Shepperd) Powers, taken ca. 1890 at York, Nebraska. I found this image online, attached to a couple of Powers family trees at Ancestry.com.
Sanford was among the children of John H. Powers (1819-1874) and his wife, Mary A. Bell (1826-1874), early residents of Whitebreast Township. It appears that the younger Powers children, including Sanford, were taken in by elder siblings upon their parents' deaths during the same year.
Both John H. and Mary, as well as other family members, are buried in Grimes Cemetery, which is located north of U.S. 34 some four miles northwest of Chariton. Now somewhat isolated, Grimes once was on the main road between Chariton and Lucas.
So it seems most likely that the family home was in that vicinity. There were two rural school districts there, at the crest of the Whitebreast hill. Morgan School was located about a half mile northwest of Grimes Cemetery and Center School No. 2, about a mile east. It's possible that these young people were enrolled in one of those districts.
By 1880, Sanford had completed his education and was working as a farm hand for his uncle and aunt, John and Adda Bell, in Warren Township. On Christmas day, 1882, he married Mary M. Shepperd and by 1884 they had moved west to York County, Nebraska. Later on, they moved to Ogallah in Trego County, west-central Kansas. Both John, who died in 1936, and Mary are buried in the Ogallah Cemetery.
If any of this seems familiar to anyone out there --- or if you can identify anyone in the vintage image --- by all means let me know and we'll share the information with Ramon.
1 comment:
Frank,
Although the school picture is not real sharp when blown up it appears that the older male on the far right, seated, was the only one who parted his hair on his left side, same as the male in the couple picture.
norm
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